10 Best Songs About Being Alone

If you’re sitting at home alone on a Friday night with nothing but a six pack and a pair of headphones, throw on some of the ten best songs about being alone and fully embrace your pathetic existence. Party like a hermit with this mix of rock, pop and blues songs.

“Message in a Bottle.” For a guy with fans all around the world, Sting could sure write a great song about being alone. “Seems I’m not alone at being alone,” sings the front man. This song by The Police concerns a shipwrecked man and “a hundred million castaways looking for a home.” For the lonely, it’s the ultimate “desert island” track.

“Nobody Home.” Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” concerns a man who builds an emotional wall around himself to block out the negatives in his life. This piano ballad finds the man in an insane asylum with “swollen hand blues” and “amazing powers of observation.“ And that’s about it.

“All By Myself.” Nicking a bit from a Rachmaninoff piece and pairing it with a song he had written years before, songwriter Eric Carmen wrote one of the best songs about being alone with “All By Myself.” The dramatic chorus is perfect shower sing-along music for hermits who actually shower.

“Need You Now.” “It’s a quarter after one, I’m a little drunk and I need you now,” sing Lady Antebellum in its country/pop song “Need You Now.” This is one of the best songs about being along because it actually brings up the idea of No-Contact with an ex.

“Only The Lonely.” If Elvis is the King of Rock and Roll, Roy Orbison, his gentler counterpart, is the King of Loneliness. Many of Orbison’s songs are about being alone, but in “Only The Lonely” he makes it the focal point of the song and lyric, singing “Only the lonely know the heartaches I’ve been through.”

“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” If you’re feeling lonesome, who better to ease your pain than Elvis? The King’s croon carries this gentle track about being alone during a breakup period, when all you can think of are the good times in the past.

“Eleanor Rigby.” “Ah, look at all the lonely people,” sings Paul McCartney in The Beatles’ groundbreaking “Eleanor Rigby,“ one of the best songs about being alone. Ms. Rigby and Father McKenzie, two of the loneliest people on earth, cross paths in this dark, orchestrated track by the formerly cheery Fab Four.

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).” Face it, if you’re sitting around by yourself, it’s pretty difficult to get your groove on and start dancing. This electrified dance song, written by songwriters George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam and performed by Whitney Houston, echoes the sentiments of lonely people who want to cut a rug.

“I Drink Alone.” “When I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself,” sings George Thorogood in the blues-rocker “I Drink Alone.” Instead of crying about being alone like all those sissy pop stars, Mr. Thorogood flaunts and follows a blues tradition.

“Isolation.” John Lennon locked himself in his apartment at The Dakota building in New York City and lived as a recluse for years. Surprisingly, he wrote this laidback tune, one of the best songs about being alone, before that period. Lonely guy for one of the most recognizable faces on the planet.

Hi,
I was under the impression that opinion pieces didn’t need a reference, as stated in the guidelines and evidence by the fact that all my other articles didn’t require one. I included an article from The Independent relating to “Eleanor Rigby” however.
Thanks,